Consumer banks can make thousands of transactions on any given day. These include deposits and withdrawals at automated teller machines (ATMs), walk-in tellers and drive-through tellers. As ATMs have become more pervasive, bank customers are able to make more transactions in smaller amounts. For example, today an ATM can be found near virtually every restaurant or movie theater. A bank customer, therefore, need not withdraw all of the money he or she will need to spend over the course of a week but can instead withdraw money in a smaller amount as it is needed.
Typically, a customer will save a record of each banking transaction he or she makes. Such records generally can be printed at an ATM or recorded in a personal ledger. As a customer makes more transactions, however, the chance that the customer will fail to save a printed receipt or record a transaction in a personal ledger increases. When a customer receives an account statement at the end of a month, he or she may find that one or more transactions are unrecorded by either a receipt or notation in a personal ledger. If the customer does not independently remember making the transaction, he or she may dispute the charge with the bank.
One of the best methods for a bank to respond to such an inquiry from a customer is to present an image of the customer making the transaction. For this reason, virtually all ATMs, in-person tellers and drive-through tellers are recorded by video. When a customer disputes a charge, the bank retrieves the relevant video and presents it to the customer.
An example of a prior-art system for saving video images of customers making banking transactions is shown in FIG. 1. The system consists of a banking network 100, which includes a number teller terminals 102 and 104 as well as ATMs 106. The teller terminals 102 and 104 each have an attached printer 108 and 110 for generating transaction receipts. The teller terminals 102 and 104 may be associated with walk-in or drive-through customer stations. The terminals 102 and 104 connect through a LAN switch 112 to a central banking application system 114. The ATM 106 typically includes an integrated video camera 116 and connects through a secure network 113. In addition to transaction data, the ATM 106 provides a digital image of the customer from the video camera at the time of the transaction by means of a transaction interface module 115. This is stored for later retrieval in the event that a customer challenges a transaction or in the case of an unauthorized use of a customer's ATM card. The banking network 100 also includes a surveillance system 118. This includes video cameras 120 and 122, which are oriented to capture each of the terminals 102 and 104. It also includes a central data storage and monitoring station 124. If a customer challenges a transaction made at a terminal, the video from the time of the transaction can be recalled from this data. Typically a bank retains this video for a time period sufficient to respond to any customer complaints that a particular transaction was not authorized by them.
Although this method of resolving customer disputes can be extremely effective, it can also be costly. A large consumer bank may operate literally thousands of tellers. To find a segment of video from thousands of hours of recorded data is extremely time consuming. It can also become costly to retain this data.
A variety of systems provide improved access to video data associated with a particular transaction. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,008, titled “Automatic Transaction Surveillance System,” and issued to Nama, discloses a system for storing transaction information along with the video image. The data is included as part of the video image itself. One disadvantage of this design is that it does not readily permit automated searches based upon transaction data.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,560, titled “Asynchronous Video Event and Transaction Data Multiplexing Technique for Surveillance Systems,” and issued to Katz, which discloses a system that records transaction data for later review. It separately stores transaction data and video data. The transaction data and video data each include a synchronization signal. After the video is recorded, it is later matched with the transaction data by use of the synchronization signal. One disadvantage of this design is that the video data is not matched or synchronized with the transaction data until some time after it is recorded. In some applications, security personnel may need immediate access to a transaction and associated video data.
Additional complexity arises in the context of drive-in teller stations. One example of a drive-in system is shown in FIG. 2. The system consist of two teller stations 202 and 204 as well as four customer stations 206, 208, 210 and 212. A teller is able to send and receive monies and transaction documents to each of the customer stations 206, 208, 210 and 212 through a tube conveyor system 214. The teller also is able to communicate with each of the customer stations 206, 208, 210 and 212 through an intercom system. Cameras 216, 218, 220 and 222 are each positioned at one of the customer stations 206, 208, 210 and 212. Image data from these cameras can be viewed by the teller and is also stored for later retrieval. A camera 218 is also positioned at the teller stations 202 and 204. Image data from this camera can be stored for later retrieval. Further details of a conveyor system used in connection with a drive in system are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,824, titled “Conveyor System for Drive-In Banks and the Like,” and issued to Bavis, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In the event that a customer challenges a transaction made at a drive-in teller, the image data can be retrieved based upon the time of the transaction. Retrieving this data, however, can be more time consuming because the lane or customer station is not necessarily recorded with the transaction information. Thus, the recorded video for each customer station may need to be reviewed in order to find the needed video segment.
In addition to, or as part of, a transaction recording system, most financial institutions also use a video surveillance system. An example of a security system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,858, titled “Video Monitoring and Security System” and issued to Ramirez Diaz, et aL. This patent discloses a system that receives video images from a number of cameras. Up detection of motion or other security event, the video image is captured. This patent is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Another example of a security system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,410, titled “Video Monitoring and Conferencing System,” and issued to Washino, et al., which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. This patent discloses a PC-based system for monitoring and storing representative images from video cameras, which may be used for security or other monitoring applications. Camera inputs from digital or analog sources are individually and independently digitized and displayed at a first set of image sizes, sampling rates, and frame rates, and may be stored in digital form on various recording media at a second set of image sizes, sampling rates, and frame rates, and these two sets of sizes and rates may or may not be identical. Provisions are included for adding detection or alarm systems which will automatically alter image size, sampling rate and/or frame rate of an individual input source, or activate other physical responses.